Although relations between Zoroastrian Iran and India go back to at least the Sasanian period, Parsi tradition dates the migration from Iran and early settlement of Zoroastrians on the west coast of India to either the 8th or 10th centuries CE.

This talk will discuss the development of Parsi identity on Indian soil, which was both shaped and challenged by feelings of allegiance to the old country mixed with a desire to put down roots in the new. It will draw on texts – religious, epic and poetic - that represent different literary traditions and reflect the shifting relations between Parsis in India and their co-religionists in Iran.